Reproducing-and-folding apparatus



W. P. SMITH REPRODUCING-AND-FOLDING APPARATUS Sept. 24, 1957 Filed Feb.5, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. W/LL/IRD A SM/T/l ATTORNEYS Sept. 24,1957 w. P. SMITH REPRODUCING-AND-FOLDING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 5, 1954 3Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORAZYS' Sept. 24, 1957 w. P. SMITHREPRODUCING-AND-FOLDING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 5, 1954INVENTOR. MLm/eo SM/m ATTORNEYJ United States Patent i '3 2,807,463REPRODUCING-AND-FOLDING APPARATUS Willard P. Smith, Boston, Mass.,assignor of one-half to Frederick F. Mosley, Stoneham, Mass.

The present invention relates to methods of and ap paratus forreproducing and folding sheet material, and, more particularly, toapparatus of the drum-reproducing type, such as mimeographs.

Many types of printing machines are adapted to feed a large web, onceprinted, to a folder apparatus where the web may be folded. Suchmachines, however, are not suitable for use with individual relativelysmall-size sheets of paper and the like such as, for example, standardofiice-size stock customarily utilized in mimeographing and similarreproducing apparatus. While machines have heretofore been proposed forprinting and folding individual relatively small-size cards, tickets andthe like, they usually involved several operational steps on the part ofthe operator and they are not adapted for the high speeds essential inmimeographing and like 'operations. It has accordingly heretofore beenthe practice in such mimeographing and like operations, first, -to stackthe mimeographed or otherwise reproduced sheets, and then to feed themby hand or otherwise, one-by-one, to a separate folding machine forfolding. This procedure,-

however, is quite timeconsuming and inefiicient. In addition, itrequires special handling and is dependent upon the skill of theoperator.

An object of the present invention is to provide a new and improvedmethod of and apparatus for automatically reproducing and folding thatis particularly adapted for use with individual small-size sheets.

An additional object is to provide a new and improved method of thecharacter described that may be practiced with the aid of a wide varietyof different types of reproducing and folding apparatus.

A further object is to provide a method and apparatus of this characterthat is operable at the high speeds used in mimeographing and similarreproducing processes. In accordance with the present invention, thisend is attained by releasing the mimeographed or otherwise marked sheetwhile it is in high-speed motion so that it may travel unrestrainedbeyond the reproducer. travels by its momentum along a predetermineddirection and it is then automatically received and folded.

Other and further objects will be explained hereinafter and will be moreparticularly pointed out in the appended claims. I H

The invention will now be described in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, A 3

Fig. 1 of which is a perspective view of a' pi'efe rre apparatus forcarrying out the method of the present invention;

Figs. 2 and 3 are similar views illustrating successive positions ofoperation of the apparatus of Fig. 1;

Figs. 4 and 7 are sections, upon anenl-arged scale, taken upon therespective lines 4--4- and 77 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of thearrows; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are similar fragmentary views upon still a larger scale ofa detail.

A reproducer of the drum-reproducing type is shown The released sheet-Patented Sept. 24, 1957 at 3 provided with an ink stencil 7 that ismounted about the surface of the drum. The drum 3 is rotated by a handcrank 5 that rotates a gear 23, Fig. 7, driving a further gear 21. Thegear 21 is mounted upon an axle 40, supported between side mountingplates 49, about which the drum 3 revolves. If desired, of course, thecrank 5 may be connected with automatic driving means, as is well known.Clockwise rotation of the crank 5 causes the drum 3 carrying the inkstencil 7 to rotate in the direction of the arrow in Figs. 1 to 3. Asheet-feeding device 4, later more fully described, pushes the top sheet1 of a stack of sheets 2 to be reproduced toward a platform 6 abovewhich the drum 3 is mounted. The stack of sheets 2 may be containedwithin a frame 8 upon an automatically elevating platform, not shown, asis well known. The head or front end of the top sheet 1 of the stack ofsheets 2 is engaged on its upper side by the drum 3 and on its lowerside by a roller 9 disposed at a predetermined point 11 at the bottom ofthe drum 3. This engagement of the head of the sheet 1 on its oppositesides is simultaneously accompanied by engagement of the sheet with theink stencil 7 and by movement of the sheet 1, in response to rotation ofthe drum 3, beyond the predetermined point 11, to the right of themachine, as viewed in Figs. 1 to 3, and to the left, as viewed in Fig.7. beyond the point 11 by the rotation of the crank 5, the sheet 1having been marked by the ink stencil 7 during such movement. Themomentum imparted to the sheet 1 permits it to travel unrestrainedbeyond the drum 3, to the right in Fig. 2. The next sheet 1 on top ofthe stack 2 is then received between the drum 3 and the roller 9 to besimilarly acted upon.

vIn accordance with the present invention, the released sheet 1'ispermitted to travel by its momentum, unrestrained, into a properlypositioned chute 13, 14 of a folder apparatus 12. A further guide 15,preferably ofcardboard or similar material, may be disposed along thevides a continuous surface for directing the released sheets the path oftravel of the sheets. A further shield or guide wall 17 may be providedalong the chute 13 to prevent lateral misalignment of the sheet as ittravels by its momentum, un'restrained, into the folder 12.

By arranging the folder 12 and its chute '13, 14 in the proper directionand at the appropriate distance from the predetermined point '11 at thebottom of the drum 3,- and preferably providing the appropriate guide15, each sheet 3 1, as it is mimeographed, is automatically fedtoward'the folder 12 and travels by its momentum, unrestrained, into thefolder 12, where it may be automatically folded. This method ofoperation thus obviates the long-standing difliculties attendant uponstacking mimeographed sheets and then feeding them by hand or otherwise,one-by-one, into i a separate folding machine, as previously set forth.The j present invention, moreover, eliminates the necessity for severaloperational steps that are inherent in other types] I By the singlemovement of the crank 5, and with no auxiliary apparatus,

of combined printing and folding machines.

the present invention provides that the reproducing step also effectsthe necessary directing step that insures that In Fig. 2, the sheet 1has been moved completely the reproduced material automatically feeds tothe folder where it may thereupon become automatically folded.

The invention, therefore does not require the use of any particular typeof reproducing or mimeographing apparatus, nor, of any particular type.of folding apparatus, sincetthe invention may be practiced with any ofa host of different types of apparatus of this character, just so longas the reproducing and folding apparatus are placed in theabove-described relative positions so that the sheet, after it has beenreproduced, travels unrestrained into the folder apparatus.

For purposes of illustration, however, a preferred mimeographedreproducer having a particular type of driving mechanism and aparticular preferred type of folder apparatus will now be explained.Referring to Fig. 7, the mimeograph apparatus may be provided with anautomatic sheet-feeding mechanism. An arm 39 of this mechanism may bepivoted about an axis 51 at the base of the machine on one side of thestack of sheets 2, and may extend upward to link at 41 with a link arm43 that, in turn, may operate the before-mentioned feeding device 4through a pivot 50. At an intermediate point 37 of the arm 39, a rockerarm 35 is linked. The rocker arm 3S eccentrically drives a gear 31through a link 33 in order to rotate the gear 31 in the direction of thearrow thereupon. Through back and forth oscillations of the arm 39 aboutthe axis 51, therefore, the paper-feeding device 4 is oscillated backand forth to feed the top sheet 1 of the stack 2 to the mimeographapparatus platform 6 and be tween :the drum 3 and the roller 9. The gear31 may, in turn, be driven through successively engaging gears 29, 27,25and 23, the axles of which may be supported in a frame 10. Thesheet-feeding device 4 thus moves back and forth upon the stack ofsheets 2 as the gear 23 is driven by the hand crank 5 that also rotatesthe drum 3, as before explained. In order to provide, however, that thesheetfeeding device 4 apply pressure to the top sheet 1 of the stack ofsheets, 2 when moved toward the mimeographing apparatus in the directionshown by the horizontal arrow in.Fig. 7, and in the opposite directionin Figs. 1 to 3, thereby to push the top sheet 1 toward the drum 3, anarm 45 is provided pivoted at. 47 to a standard 42 that is secured toone side of the machine. A leaf spring 149 is secured to a .stud 44 uponthe standard 42 and the spring 149 bears against the pivotal connection47 with the arm 45. This causes a terminal projection 46 at the free endof the arm 45 to ride against the underside of the link arm 43. In theposition shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the projection 46 bears upon theportion of the link arm 43 close to the pivot 41,1thus applyingrelatively little upward leverage against the link arm 43 and permittingthe sheet-feeding device 4 to rest rather heavily upon the top sheet 1of the stack of sheets 2 in order to provide for feeding the top sheet 1to the reproducer 3. When the arm 39 oscillates away from the drum 3, tothe right as shown in Fig. 7, and to the left, in Fig. 2, the projection46 will bear upon portions of the link arm 43 closer to the pivot 50,thus applying greater upward force under the control of the spring 149.This causes the sheet-feeding device 4 to rise slightly above the topsheet 1 of the stack of sheets 2 so thatas it is returned over the stackof sheets 2 away from the drum 3, the feeding device 4 will not engagethe top sheet 1.

The details of a preferred type of folding mechanism 12 are illustratedin Fig. 4. A pair of sheet-feeding rollers 121'and 123 are operated by adriving mechanism, not shown, to rotate in opposite directions asindicated by the arrows thereupon. The sheet 1 that has traveled fromthe drum 3 unrestrained directly into the chute 13, 14 is passed beweenthe rollers 121 and 123 and carried upward between a pair of somewhatcurved guide members 133 until it strikes a stop .131 at which time thesheet 1 is buckled or folded, as shown at 1" in Fig. 5.

The buckled portion 1' of the sheet 1 is then fed downward between theroller 123 and a further roller 125, as more particularly shown in Figs.4 and 6, between a pair of downwardly curving guides 135 until the sheet1 strikes a further stop 129, at which time the sheet is again buckledor folded. The twice folded sheet is then fed between the roller 123 andstill a further roller 127 out of the folder 12 along slightlydownwardly inclined belts 19 traveling over a correspondingly inclinedsurface 119. The overlapped folded sheets may be removed as they are fedalong the belts 19, or the leading folded sheet may be engaged by aterminal chute hook to permit the sheets to become stacked at a sharperangle with respect to the vertical. Further details of the folder 12 andthe various driving mechanisms associated therewith are not illustratedand described in order to prevent detraction, by complication, from theessential features of novelty of the present invention, such furtherdetails being well known as described, for example, in United StatesLetters Patent No. 2,589,436, issued March 18, 1952, to F. J. Rouan ctal.

While, as before stated, the invention may be practiced with other typesof reproducers and folders than the particular preferred typesillustrated and described, a satisfactory arrangement employing theillustrated apparatus that is well adapted to mimeographing letterheadand legal-size sheets, may utilize the following adjustments. The chute13, 14 of the folder 12 may be placed substantially in-line with thereproducer platform 6 with the forward edge of the side mounting plates49 spaced about six inches from the outer edge of the chute 13. This mayprovide a distance of about twenty to twentythree inches, more or less,from the point 11, between the drum 3 and the roller 9, and the entrance14 to the folder rollers 121 and 123. The momentum imparted to the sheet1 as it is reproduced and directed toward the folder 12 may then carrythe reproduced sheet directly to the rollers 121 and 123.

Modifications will occur to those skilled in the art and all such areconsidered to fall within the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A reproducing-and-folding apparatus having, in combination, areproducer provided with marking means, means for operating thereproducer to engage opposite sides of a sheet at a predetermined pointwith the sheet contacting the marking means and simultaneously to movethe sheet as it is marked beyond the said point, the marked sheet beingreleased by the reproducer just beyond the said point in order that itmay travel beyond the said point unrestrained with a predeterminedmomentum, a guide disposedbeyond the said point and constituted ofmaterial to which the released traveling sheet tends to beelcctrostatically attracted for directing the travel of .the releasesheet along a predeterntincd direction, and afolder provided witha chutepositioned along the said predetermined direction and connected to thereproducer by the guide to receivethc released directed sheet before thedissipation of its m0- mentum and folding mechanism for folding thesheet.

2. A reproducing-and-folding apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and inwhich the said reproducer is a mimeograph apparatus and the said folderis provided with means for twice folding the sheet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS588,487 Scott 1. Aug. 17, 1.897 1,243,032 Barr Oct. 16, 1917 1,617,782Ahlquist Feb. 15, 1927 2,670,664 Heitrnann Mar. 2, 1954

